title: Distensibility of the ascending aorta: comparison of invasive and non-invasive techniques in healthy men and in men with coronary artery disease.
abstract: Distensibility of the ascending aorta, measured non-invasively, was compared with values obtained by invasive techniques in 46 males (30 patients with coronary artery disease and 16 age-matched normal subjects). Aortic diameters were measured at a level 3 cm above the aortic valve using both echocardiographic and angiographic techniques. Aortic distensibility was calculated from the aortic diameters and aortic pressure or brachial artery pressure using the formula: 2 x (change in aortic diameter)/(diastolic aortic diameter) x (change in aortic pressure). Distensibility of the ascending aorta determined non-invasively was closely related to that obtained by direct measurements (r = 0.949, P less than 0.001). Patients with coronary artery disease had similar pressures, but markedly lower distensibility than normal subjects, as shown by both invasive and non-invasive techniques. The results indicate that aortic distensibility in patients with coronary artery disease can be obtained non-invasively with a high degree of accuracy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Athens Medical School, Greece.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stefanadis
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stratos
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Boudoulas
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kourouklis
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Toutouzas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001011:Aorta / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001027:Aortography; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination / Q000379:methods*; D002404:Catheterization; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004452:Echocardiography; D015637:Gated Blood-Pool Imaging; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged